The Riddle of Mormonism

It wasn’t until the summer of 1995 that I first met a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (The Mormons.) Of course I had heard of Mormonism through their family-friendly and uplifting TV commercials. And weren’t “Donny and Marie” Mormons?

The Mormons I met in 1995 were very kind and excited about their church. They encouraged me to consider the claims of their church and to pray about the Book of Mormon.

I decided to take them up on their suggestion, and that began my research into this impressive religion.

Mormon teachings are “unusual” by just about any standard. They believe in an infinite number of gods. They believe God the Father was once a mortal who earned Godhood. They believe that we humans can earn Godhood too. They believe that Black people are black as a punishment for not fighting well during a time called “the pre-existence.” And that’s only the beginning.

Because hardly anyone would consider joining a church that taught such bizarre teachings, the Mormon Church is on an aggressive “public relations” campaign to keep their beliefs hidden and appear as though the church is just a misunderstood denomination of Biblical Christianity. And worse, they are trying to convince people that those who do not recognize Mormons as true Christians are mean-spirited persecutors.

And they’re doing a good job winning the battle of public opinion.

I’m writing this post to give tips on how to respond to our non-Christian friends and neighbors who question us about Mormonism, because this will become a more common occurrence. Mormonism is beginning to be accepted as a legitimate form of Christianity.

The truth is that Mormonism hurts people. It hurts people because it tells lies about who God is, and it inoculates people from the true and life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what should the Christian do when our non-Christian friends ask us about Mormonism? I propose the following:

• Please show love and concern in your tone and body language. The Mormon Church has successfully played the “victim card” so we must be careful not to fall into the trap of being perceived as an uncaring aggressor who values being right over valuing people.

• Please remember that our non-Christian friends and neighbors typically don’t care too much about doctrine, so let’s not overwhelm them with a list of Mormon heresies and Mormon false prophecies. Sadly, there are no shortage of Mormon heresies and Mormon false prophecies, but it is unwise to open a fire-hose of information on our non-Christian friends and neighbors. A few glaring examples of disturbing Mormon teachings should be enough to make our point, and if our friends and neighbors want more, they will ask. If we give them a large laundry list of what the Mormons get wrong, we’ll likely appear as though we have an axe to grind.

• Please be quick to point out that our issue with the Mormon Church is not with the individual people. We’re not saying that Mormons live horrible lives. Be quick to point out that Mormons can be some of the most moral and family-friendly people we could ever meet. Mormons make terrific neighbors, and employees, and vendors. Of course there are nice Mormons. But there are nice Hindus and nice Atheists and nice Wiccans. There are also crummy Mormons, Hindus, Atheists, Wiccans, and even crummy Christians. But we don’t determine the truth of a religion by its professing followers, but by its teachings.

• Like the “Wizard of Oz” who wanted Dorothy and her friends to “ignore the man behind the curtain,” the Mormon church desperately wants us to ignore what the Mormon church really teaches. The Mormon church doesn’t want to talk about what they believe, unless they use vague and even deceptive language. They also use words we’re familiar with, but change the meanings so as to confuse. Some examples of words that the Mormon church has assigned new definitions to include: God, Jesus, salvation, grace, and many more.

• Show with your words and body language that you’re concerned about Mormons because you believe it might be possible that they don’t even know what their own church teaches. And most importantly, you believe that people get hurt by Mormonism, and you don’t want to see people get hurt.

• If they ask why it hurts people, point out that people get hurt because they give their time and money to the Mormon church, and perhaps years later learn some of the bizarre teachings, and find themselves trapped. Or worse, if they stay in Mormonism, they will be shielded from the true gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only belief system that shows true love for people because it gives us what we need (forgiveness of sins) and allows us to be adopted into God’s family. (Then this is a great segue to share Christ with this person.)

Remember, as Christians, we are to judge truth by the Word of God. But most people in the world don’t practice this. They decide what they like based on feelings and even the charisma or character of the person advocating an idea. So make sure that you talk with your friends and neighbors after spending time in prayer. Pray that the love of Christ will flow from you, and that it will be evident that you are more concerned for the welfare of people than of just “being right.”

As for Christians, I have two resources that I hope will be a help to you:

• Letter to a Mormon: Testing the Claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: This document was written with 2 purposes in mind:

  1. To train Christians in what the Mormons actually believe (but might not tell you).

  2. To have something tangible that you can give to a Mormon as a witnessing tool.

  This document contains a gospel message and an overview of doctrines that the LDS church teaches. All of them list quotations from actual LDS sources, citing where these can be found. In addition, each doctrine has what the Bible teaches on the subject. You should print out at least 2 copies to have near your door since the Mormons always come in 2’s. Give this to the Mormons. It contains material that they may not even know about.

  You can download the latest version of this document at: http://luke-15.org/Mormon_letter.pdf

• Email Discussion with Two Mormons: On Christmas Day, 2006, I received an email from a woman named Rose who expressed her disappointment with an essay I have written about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons). She and I exchanged a few more emails, and she invited her son, Jack, to do most of the talking for her position.

  I found both Rose and Jack to be intelligent and thoughtful people, so I was excited when Jack proposed that I publish our emails (unedited) on my website. Click here to read this fascinating email discussion.

  If you read through this long list of emails, you’ll find that it was like pulling teeth to get Jack to finally admit that he believed in many gods, that his god was once a man, and that men can someday become little gods. Also, he believes that the efforts of man are required to keep your salvation.

  If you read through those long emails, you’ll see how hard it was to get Jack to admit these things. It will give you an understanding on how Mormons often operate, which is to avoid talking about beliefs, and stick to talking about how nice Mormons appear on the outside. Incidentally, and this is so tragic, suicide rates are far above the national average among young Mormons living in Utah, most likely because of the intense pressure to be perfect on the outside. (See http://www.lifeafter.org/mormonsuicide.asp).

  This email discussion can be found at: http://Luke-15.org/email-discussion-with-two-mormons/

I hope this post has been helpful, and I hope the recommended resources prove helpful as well. Please feel free to pass them along to whomever you think will be blessed by them.

with love in Christ,
Mark

P.S. This post can be found at: http://Luke-15.org/the-riddle-of-mormonism/

P.P.S. Please feel free to check out a large list of free resources meant to help Christians grow in their walk with Christ at: http://resources.Luke-15.org